At the city gates of Qingshui County, more than a dozen porridge stalls lined up like a long dragon, the steam from the large pots twisting and deforming in the breeze.
A few government officials stood at the frontmost porridge stall, stirring the thick rice porridge in the iron pot with wooden ladles in their hands.
"Line up! Everyone gets a share!" The official raised his voice and shouted, his voice already a bit hoarse.
Behind him, in newly erected grass sheds, several women were changing the tattered clothes of the children into clean coarse cloth garments.
Luo Hai, bringing more officials, hurried over. He strode outside the city gate, squinting as he looked at the dusty official road in the distance, his expression hard to read.
After Han Lei had brought back tens of thousands of beggars and refugees last time, fortunately, those porridge stalls had not been dismantled, and now tens of thousands more refugees had entered Qingshui County.
"Why have so many come again?"
